He Makes Me Strong

Ch. 17

Louis P.O.V.

"Brake Louis! Brake!" Zayn yelled gripping onto the dashboard of the car, I managed to figure out which one the break was and sighed when I skid across the empty parking lot mere inches from hitting the fence. "Dammit!" I sighed hitting the steering wheel; "hey its alright..' Zayn cooed, "you didn't crash this time" he said rubbing my hand gently, "lets just face it! I'm never gonna get my permit!" I said getting out slamming the cars door and going to the back of the boot, Niall and Liam were running over to make sure Zayn and I were ok. "You boys alright!?" Liam asked checking us over, I sighed and pushed him away from me not meeting any of their gazes, "you did better than yesterday.." Niall said comfortingly, "I can't get the hang of this.." I said, "it just takes time Lou" Zayn sighed, "when mum taught me how to drive I was far worse than you are now" he said, "you were..?" I asked finally looking at him, "well.. not AS bad but I was pretty close.." He said, "I almost crashed us into the police station once" he said laughing, "I gotta hear this one" Niall said sitting on the inside of the boot with me, Liam had brought his car closer to where Niall's was parked at and he and Zayn sat on the boot of Liam's car as we all took a lunch a break and ate our sandwiches Liam bought us from subway. Zayn took a bite of his sandwich staring off into space thinking and laughed before drinking his soda and nodded, "alright.. so I was about Louis' age, maybe like a year younger.. um our mum thought it was time to teach me how to drive, she was supposed to have surgery, I don't remember what for but she wasn't gonna be able to drive much and she wanted me to learn the basics so I could take Louis and myself to school and take her places she needed to go like doctor appointments and what not.. we were living in Doncaster by this time and the place we were there were more buildings than street, like you had real narrow streets two cars can fit but you had to move slow as to now crash into one another.. well I didn't know cos I never been down that street before, there was a car coming down real fast and I thought I was supposed to stop completely but my mum told me to keep going but to just slow down.. I panicked cos the car was coming down my way and the other car behind me was trying to move in front, instead of turning into an empty space to let traffic through I turned into the space the car was coming.. my mum was yelling at me telling me to move forward into a driveway or something just to get out of the way, I hit the gas pedal and turned the wheel sending us out into the street again making donuts before she grabbed the wheel trying to keep it straight, I'm screaming not knowing what I was doing, my mums yelling at me to hit the break but I can't move my foot cos I'm too busy freaking out about the near accident I almost caused.. I sent us rapidly driving into the police station before she pulled the emergency break on me stopping the car, there was an officer coming out the door with a coffee, I was so close to hitting him, he must've gotten scared cos he just started at us in shock letting his coffee fall out of his hand spilling all over the car blinking slowly at us. We got into SO much trouble.. mum canceled her surgery instead stating it wasn't important; she never took me driving after that" he said laughing. "Wow" Niall laughed, "and I thought my first time driving was bad" he said, "alright hot-shot, lets hear it" Liam said laughing drinking his soda, "alright! Picture this! I get in this heap of junk car right? It was my mum's old car, it was breaking down so she stopped using it, I didn't know it was in such bad condition otherwise I wouldn't have taken it out.. I took it to a Tesco's to get some snacks, the break got stuck on me!" He said laughing, "I couldn't stop the car, I ran 3 red lights and caused a semi big crash behind me trying to figure out how to see over the bumper, I could barely see over the hood; anyway I finally got the break unstuck and smiled to myself before realizing I was past the parking lot, I had crashed into the hotdog stand out front of the store. condiments, buns, wieners, and drinks were splattered all over the car.. I was somehow flung over the back seat, by the time the cops came I was gone, I had snuck back inside my room and my mum asked if I knew where her car was; I told her no and she reported it stolen.. she never found out it was me that caused that big accident" he said laughing; Zayn choked on his sandwich and Liam spat his soda covering his mouth quickly trying not to laugh, "oh no Niall" I groaned laughing, "see Louis we were all screw ups our first time behind the wheel" Zayn said, "you were all younger than I was too though" I said, "Liam you wanna share your story of when you FIRST got your permit, and HOW you got your permit?" Zayn laughed, "erm.. no not really" he said drinking his soda looking everywhere else but at us, Zayn watched him for a minute before speaking up for him, "I'll tell it then" he said causing Niall and I look at him, "Liam was 15? when he got his permit, he did everything by the book, he was confident and ready but when it came time to take his test.." Zayn said laughing, "he freaked out.. the instructor told him to start the car and Liam couldn't remember how to start it, after telling him for the second time Liam screamed out for the instructor to stop yelling at him, this bloke hit the gas in reverse! Sending them driving backwards for about 2 blocks? Before he put it in drive and and practically turned the car on two wheels scaring the shit outta him and the instructor; I think she quit after Liam.. but the next time he went in he was a little more confident, a little too confident" Zayn said laughing hysterically, "tell me!" I said cuddling into Niall in the boot of the car, we had finished our sandwiches and we were leaning back in the boot listening to the stories, after hearing LIAM failed his test the first time I started to feel better, Liam is like the most CAREFUL driver I've ever been in the car with, I can't see him screwing up anything, he's almost too perfect. "I think that's enough.. lets' just say I almost didn't pass the second time but I did better and got my permit; then my license" Liam butted in, "his next instructor was a dirty perv.." Zayn started, "yes Liam did better but not enough to pass fully, Liam offered the guy a blow job; must've been pretty damn great cos he got his permit and a few months later his license" Zayn said snickering. "Wasn't my proudest moment.. but I couldn't fail again.." Liam pouted, "I never failed ANYTHING in my life before" he added, "so your mouth is that good that you passed easily?" Niall asked, Liam glared at Zayn hitting him, "now you got him started.. thanks" Liam sighed, "how much do you charge per hour?" I asked laughing, "more than you can afford" he said drinking his soda, "how does Zayn afford it?" Niall asked causing us to bust into hysterics. Liam knew we were only teasing him but he had a good sense of humor about it. "Zayn gets it free cause he's better" Liam fought back sticking his tongue out at us. Niall got up from behind me when Zayn said we were gonna try again; Niall stood up and stretched looking at Liam and kissed him saying he was better and took off running causing Zayn to chase him; Liam and I laughed and he sighed shaking my head, "alright guess its my turn.. lets go" he said getting in the passengers seat, I sighed and got in, "ok what first?" he asked, "um.. seat belts?" I asked, he nodded and put his seat belt on, "ok now what?" He asked, "start the car..?" I asked, Liam bit his lip and I looked at the mirrors, "adjust my mirror?" I asked, he nodded and I sighed, "nobody moved them Liam.." I said pretending to adjust my mirrors, I looked behind me and seen Niall and Zayn rolling on the floor play fighting causing me to laugh, Liam cleared his throat making me adjust them right, "ok now what?" He asked, "start the car?" I asked, he nodded and I started the car; we were driving slowly at first and little by little I was driving a little faster. "Your doing great Lou! Just slow down a little bit" he said, we slowed down before he told me to stop, we picked up Zayn and Niall and told me to start driving again, I thought I was gonna go again but he took me out of the empty parking lot; "where are we going?" I asked, "I'm gonna take you the route they're gonna show you" he said. After a while I finally got the hang of it, it seemed so much easier driving with Liam, he didn't freak out on me like Zayn did, "watch the signs!" Zayn said from behind me making my flinch and grip the wheel, "relax Louis.. your doing fine.. Zayn no backseat driving!" Liam scolded, "he just ran a stop sign!" He said, I hit the breaks stopping the car and sighed, "I can't do this! I ran a stop sign!" I said freaking out, "listen to me, you're doing great, yes you ran the sign but its ok just pay more attention your doing so good though" Liam said softly and smoothly. I sighed but nodded and kept driving. After a while of driving the route with Liam, then Zayn and finally Niall they all tallied up their scores they were giving me and Liam said I did really good and he was confident I was gonna pass. Liam drove me to the test and let me use his car since the car Niall was driving wasn't kept up to date. Liam had a license, and the paper work for the car so he took me in, I sighed nervously and he gave me a thumbs up telling me to relax and just remember what we did this morning. After I took the test I walked out of the building and up to Niall, Liam and Zayn. "Well?" Zayn asked looking at me, I sighed and looked down at my paper, "unfortunately.." I said the lads groaned and sighed and I smiled happily, "you losers aren't gonna be the only ones on the road cos I passed fuckers!!" I yelled cheering, they all cheered with me hugging me. We ended up going to back home to celebrate with an ice cream cake, my mum was home for the day so I was excited to tell her the news, she said she had faith in me and knew I was gonna pass; "come with me" she said smiling, I looked to the lads going with her, them following close behind. "Tada!" She said excitedly pulling a huge tarp off a micro minibus, I looked at her shocked with tears welding my eyes, "mum.. whats this..?" I asked hoping it was mine, "I know its not much but-" "no no no I love it! I absolutely love it!" I said hugging her tightly practically sending us backwards into the garage wall. "I'm glad to hear that baby" she said smiling rubbing my back and kissing my head, "this is sic Lou!" Niall said smiling opening the door, "yeah it'll be awesome for long road trips" Zayn said, "thank you thank you thank you!" I said excitedly once more taking the keys from my mum, "lets go to the beach!" Niall said excitedly, "can we mum!?" I asked smiling, she laughed shaking her head at us, "be careful.. and don't drown your brother.. and be home for dinner!" She said before going inside. "Wait was she tell you not to drown me or me not to drown you?" Zayn asked, "I'm not sure.. maybe both of us..?" I said confused and running inside to pack a bag with some clothes, my mum was in the kitchen making us a lunch, we didn't have the heart to tell her we had already eaten; so we just took the lunches figuring Niall's bottomless pit would eat them anyway and got in the van and drove to the beach. I was so excited to finally have my license and be able to drive around! Liam was sitting up front with me talking to me while Zayn and Niall hung out in the back, I smelt something kinda funny and looked in the review mirror and sighed, "lads! your gonna get me in trouble! Put that shit out!" I sighed, "what? It's not like a cop is gonna randomly pull aside you and say 'hey boys I know you're smoking marijuana back there' just fucking relax" Zayn laughed lighting the joint, I sighed and rolled down my window, "your gonna stink up my car you asshole!" I sighed, "a little weed isn't gonna do anything, besides we'll just get you one of those car freshener spray things it'll be fine" Zayn sighed, "those don't work!" I said finally pulling up to the side of the road and parking next to the hill of the beach, it wasn't necessarily a beach more like a lake type thing, it was nice though it had like a woods type thing with a huge lake and beautiful waterfall, we were gonna go to the beach but we figured it was gonna be crowded so we came here instead, that way we could just be by ourselves and hang out. "Of course they work! I use them on my car all the time" Zayn said smiling and opening the door, "happy? we'll smoke with the door open" he said, Niall smiled and took a hit of the joint passing it to me, I never got high before. I got second hand high from hanging in Zayn's room with him once while we were playing video games but never actually high; "you don't have to do it" Liam said taking the joint from me taking a puff and handing it back to Zayn before going to go set up the hang out spot where we were gonna chill after we got out of the water. "What the hell you only live once right? So live while your young" I said taking the joint and taking a long breath in like I seen Zayn do. My lungs screamed for air and my eyes turned watery as I choked and blew the smoke out, "easy there bro!" Zayn said laughing patting my back, "you alright?" He asked when I finally calmed down; I nodded my head and asked if I could try again, he hesitated but gave it to me anyway and I took my time on it, taking semi small deep breaths in until I was able to get the hang of it without gagging and choking. We sat and talked for a while smoking and then Niall and I jumped into the water, Zayn stood on the little hill side dipping his feet in only, he didn't wanna get in cos he couldn't swim but Liam promised him they could stay on the shallow end, he eventually got in and they began snogging in the corner, I was sure they were naked over there but I didn't care I was far from them. After a while of swimming it finally started to get dark and cold; we sat on the hillside watching the sun go down. "This is a beautiful place" Liam murmured sleepily, "mhm" Zayn sighed closing his eyes resting his head on Liam's. "I agree.. how'd you find this place Lou?" Niall asked, "um me and Stan used to come here.." I said lying, Niall knew who "Stan" was both the actual kid and Harry, but Zayn and Liam thought it was the actual kid from school; I haven't talked to him since a few days before Harry and I broke up, I wonder what even happened to him, aside from him being obsessed with me he was a pretty cool lad. I wouldn't have minded being friends with him but he wanted something more and I told him I was seeing someone; he got mad and I never saw him after that. I hope he's ok. "You ok Lou?" Zayn asked quietly, "hmm? oh yeah sorry um got lost in the sunset, what did you say?" I asked sitting up from the leaned back position against the tree I was laying on how long was I in a daze for? When did it get so dark? "I asked if you were ok to drive back home" he said, "oh yeah! No problem, I'm wide awake" I said, "you sure? I could drive" he said yawning tiredly, "no it's alright, I don't want you crashing my car; I just got it" I said smiling, "it'll be payback" he said laughing getting up waking up Liam and Niall. I smiled and got up to going with them, all 3 of them climbed in the back and fell asleep and I drove us home, as I was driving on the side of the road I began to reminisce about me and Harry, a tear filled my eyes and I had to pull over. I got out and looked at my phone, my mum had found out about my phone and got mad that I never told her what happened, she just assumed I lost it in my room; she got me a new phone. I had memorized Harry's number and dialed it putting the phone to my ear biting my lip listening the ringing tone as it repeated 5 times in a row. "hello?" a voice came on the other line, my breath got caught in my throat and for a second I forgot how to breathe, "hello..?" He asked again, "who is this? if you don't speak up I'm hanging up" he said, "Harry..?" I asked softly, "yes.. who is this?" He asked, "its me Louis.. um I got a new phone.." I said, "oh.. Louis.. I um.. thats great.. erm.. what do I owe the pleasure of this call?" He asked breathlessly, "I know your probably still mad at me but-" "I'm not mad at you Lou.. I just.. I didn't think we could be together's all" he sighed, "Yeah I remember you said it was cos of the age thing.." I reminded him, "that was a lie.. I was just scared of what people would think of me.." He said sighing, "you were never one to care what people thought.." I said biting my lip, "I know but it wasn't people in general it was one person, my brother.. he found out I was dating someone younger than me and he was telling me how wrong it looked cause you were 14 and I was 19.. I'm considered an adult and your a minor so it looked bad for my image.. I don't know I let him get into my head and I had so much going on at the time.." he sighed, "I understand.." I whispered, "where are you? your connection sounds off, I can barely hear you" he said, "oh I'm at Lakeside Lake" I said smiling, "Lakeside.. isn't that where I took you on our first date?" He asked laughing, I smiled and said yea, mentioning the reason for my call. "Thats why I wanted to call you.. I was reminiscing a lot about us, our first kiss, our first moonlight picnic, our first dance.. it all happened here.. I was watching the sunset and I started thinking of you.. it made me miss you" I said, "I miss you too.." he sighed breathlessly, "Harry I know you're going through a lot but do you think we could maybe just sit down one day and talk about getting back together..?" I asked, "we don't need to talk.." he said, I bit my lip and looked down kicking some dirt rocks with my shoe before whispering a quiet, "oh.. ok.." "we don't need to talk cause I feel the same way. I'm tired of feeling lost without you.. I miss you, I miss your sassy smart ass remarks when I ask something you think is stupid or obvious, I miss the sweet smell of vanilla in your soft feathery hair every time you would stand on your tippy-toes to hug me, I miss your lips against mine when you would kiss me, I miss cuddling you and spooning you, feeling your cold feet next to my warm ankles, I miss play fighting with you about stupid little things and seeing you smile when I say your right and I was wrong. In general I just miss you" he said softly, "I love you Louis Tomlinson.. and I really really miss you" my heart sank at his words, I couldn't believe it, he missed me too. "I love you too Harry Styles" I said smiling into the phone, "will you ever forgive me?" he asked, "only on the condition you say we can work this out" I said, "deal! now where can I meet you so we can do what we do best when agreeing to something and seal this deal with a kiss!" he said, I smiled and remembered what my mum had said about being home for dinner, I wasn't allowed to drive without a licensed adult nor was I allowed to drive past a certian time. "Can we meet tomorrow? I promised my mum we'd spend family time together, its her only night off" I said, "yes yes of course! Stay home with your mum, but if your not busy tomorrow.. I'd like to meet up and finally kiss you" he said, I smiled and agreed, we decided to meet at this old abandonded park near by, no one ever went to that side of town and no one ever went to that park so we were safe there. "Sounds great! I'll see you there, do you want me to pick you up?" he asked, "that kinda defeats the purpose of sneaking around doesn't it?" I laughed, "well yeah.. but its kinda a long way to walk for you.." he said, "don't worry I have a ride" I said smiling looking back to my car. I still can't believe my mum got this for me. "Alright.. I'll see you then, be careful" he said, we said our goodbbyes and I squealed happily like a little girl and quickly ran back to the car getting in trying to close the door quietly but failing, "what..? where are we?" Zayn asked getting up half asleep, "sorry.. I had to stop to wee" I lied, "oh.. you look tired, you want me to drive the rest of the way so you can catch up on sleep?" he asked, "um I'm not really tired but I'll take you up on that offer to drive" I said smiling switching places with him, "whats got you in a good mood?" he asked laughing starting the car, "just having a good day" I said smiling looking out the window. "Alright" he laughed and drove us home. I was having a great day alright and it was only getting better. Harry sent me a cute selfie of him and his cat Dusty, I loved that cat, she was always so soft and cuddly, kinda like Harry; he sent me the cute selfie of them two laying together and captioned it, 'Wish you were here with us tonight; but I'll see you soon! Can't Wait! X X X' I smiled at the text quickly sending a reply; Zayn looked at me, "who's got you smiling like a fool?" he laughed, "um no one" I said putting my phone away smiling goofy still, I couldn't help it I was finally happy again, "last time I saw you smiling like that you were with Stan" Zayn said, "yeah.." I said not paying much attention to what he was saying, "are you two back together?" he asked, "who?" I asked looking at him surprised and worried, did he say Harry's name? "you and Stan" he said, "oh um.. no.. its another guy I met.. yeah we met at the bakery I work at" I said, shit.. why did you say that Louis!? Now he's gonna wanna know who he is and how long you've known him! "whats his name?" he asked, "um Edward" I said, "oh..how old is he?" he asked, "um he's 17.." I said lying through my teeth, but in my defense Harry looked very young for his age, he didn't look 19! he looked about 16-17. "Thats cool. you've known him long?" he asked turning the corner to go home, finally we were almost there so I could get out and avoid the rest of this conversation, "kinda yea, he's been a regular customer of mine since I've been working there" I said which was kind of the truth, i was working at the bakery Harry owned, before he always left he always stopped to get a coffee from me as an excuse to touch my hand and leave me a tip, which i always tried to deny but he always insisted telling me if I refused he wouldn't kiss me, after we broke up I hardly saw him there, just cos he owned the bakery didn't mean he hired me; he was my bosses boss not mine; his friend Mary was the one who hired me on his recomendation, she was my boss, she was cool though she wasn't one of those stuck up bosses that yelled at you for every little thing you do wrong, she treated us all equal, there was no higher power with her. I liked working with her we became good friends. "Thats cool.. it's nice to see you happy and smiling again" he said, I smiled as a thank you and we finally pulled into the parking lot and woke up Liam and Niall going inside to have a wonderful dinner with our mum. This day had been great! I couldn't wait for tomorrow for the week to be better! That was until I got grounded, "is this marijuana!?" my mum asked when we walked inside and took off our jackets and shoes, the baggie of pot fell out of Zayn's pocket as he hung his jacket up. Son of a bitch!